Xopil was laying on a bed at the inn. He stared fixedly at the ring pinched between his fingers. I have two obstacles to this whole mess, maybe three. First off, I can't bring anything I know with me when I travel back. I'll just forget that for now since I can't do much about it. Next, I need to figure out how to become aware I'm in the past. Lastly would be how to end the war before it starts? ... Again there's not much point figuring it out here.

Xopil sighed in defeat just before there was a knock at his door. "Enter."

"Your highness." Foralis saluted as he passed through the door.

"And they are?" Xopil cast a tired gaze upon the several women following Foralis into the room.

"Descendents of royal servants." Foralis replied, "I had hoped to introduce you properly..."

The women looked at eachother in confusion, only catching half the conversation. Xopil placed his feet on the floor and rose from the bed, he approached them somberly, his footsteps growing heavy.

The women's ears twitched as they heard the heavy footsteps approaching, but saw no one.

"I present to his highness, the descendents of the royal guard...er?" Foralis was stunned. "I don't understand?"

"It's simple, just repeat what I said, they can't hear or see me."

"I, Xopil Wragnaith, sincerely apologize for the fate that has befallen you and your ancestors. I will do everything within my power to right this terrible wrong."

"The lost prince is really here?" the five women were in an uproar as they were about to kneel. Foralis stopped them with a wave, mimicking Xopil. "He says he hasn't earned the right for formality."

"We've still sworn fealty all these years." the women genuflected, despite being stopped earlier. Xopil scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Please... rise."

"You may rise." Xopil shot Foralis a glare, causing the horse-elf to shudder. The women also shuddered from the change in the atmosphere as they slowly stood up straight.

"His highness has requested that all of you join him for a meal." Foralis led them all to a table in the main lobby, then he left to prepare the meal. The five women watched a chair at that table pull itself out and push back in. They approached the table and sat at attention. Only a couple minutes passed before they started chatting idly and gossiping amongst themselves, completely forgetting that Xopil was there.

Any other time, a prince would be insulted by such behavior; at present though, Xopil was hoping to catch anything useful, but he was disappointed... he was the center of their conversation after all. He did his best to ignore them instead, he failed with that as well.

"I'd have dressed up if I knew I'd be dining with the prince."

"That's irrelevent isn't it? We're all here, looking dull and drab in common casual wear. Besides, we don't know it's the prince do we?"

"But that oppressive feeling earlier..."

"No kidding, I'm just glad it wasn't directed at us."

That could be arranged. Xopil shrugged.

"It's strange though, like I can feel when his eyes are on me. Makes me feel self conscious."

The other women murmered in agreement, after this they lowered their voices and continued their chat in whispers.

Foralis returned from the kitchen bearing a large amount of plates on a huge serving tray, seeing Xopil looking bored with his head propped on his hand he hastily placed the food on the table. "Apologies fer the wait."

"Why so much food?" Xopil asked slightly dazed.

"Er... well, that's..." Foralis waited until Xopil had taken a portion and filled his plate, the women waited patiently as well as they watched food mysteriously disappear and reappear on the plate in front of the empty chair. When Xopil had finished, Foralis gave a nod to the women and quickly backed away from the table.

Nothing could have prepared Xopil for the graceful yet monstrous presence of the five women assaulting the food remaining on the table. Xopil simply aimed his eyes at his own plate and proceeded to eat calmly despite the hurricane going on at his table.

The difference is too large... Foralis sighed at the scene and retreated to the kitchen. Every so often, the women at Xopil's table would cast their eyes at his plate in order to observe how he ate, noticing that the food slowly disappeared at regular intervals, the women blushed in embarrassment and it only got worse when they looked at the mess they'd made of the rest of the table.

The women returned to their seats when they had eaten their fill, and patiently sat there watching as the remaining food on Xopil's plate disappeared casually. Foralis returned and started cleaning up the used plates, leaving Xopil to finish eating. Foralis gave the girls a pitiful glance as he walked away. They all noticed and looked at the floor. It's not like they could help their nature.

"It's fine." Xopil stated more to himself, and resumed eating. After all, it's not like they could hear him.

A pair of ears twiched, and one of the women turned her head looking around the lobby, this didn't go unnoticed by the other four. "Something wrong Caly?"

"Someone just said 'it's fine' but there's no one here besides us, right? ...And the prince." Caly stated, looking warily at the seat behind the only plate left on the table.

"Ho? So you can hear me now?" Xopil was more than a little delighted at this.

"Mmm such a deep manly voice... and that ancient accent, I could just..." Caly could barely control herself, she purred heavily.

"Hey hey, calm down... can you see me too?" Xopil asked.

"See you... hmm no." Caly replied, more than a little disappointed as she stared intently at the chair.

"What's he sound like?"

"So he's really there?"

"Leave it to the curious cat to be the first to hear him."

"Wait, why can she hear him but the rest of us can't?"

"If I had to guess, Caly is your name? It's because your curiousity allowed you to believe I'm here enough to break one of the barriers."

"Actually, it's Calypso," responded Caly with a sudden deep blush at being addressed by her nickname from a prince of all people. "So all it takes really is to believe you're there?"

"More or less, it can't be a half-hearted belief though." Xopil replied.

"Is that so..." Caly rose from her chair, and bounced as she walked her way towards Xopil. Before anyone could object, she sat down and curled up in his lap.

"What?" Xopil was perplexed at this turn of events.

"Well, I am mostly cat... and nothing is more comfortable than a warm lap. This will help me believe you're there."

Xopil sat there wordlessly, even unconsciously stroked her ears. Caly started trilling contentedly. She went as far as accepting the jealous gazes of the other four women like a boss.

"To have a man like you around..." Caly's words trailed off, replaced by her contented trilling.

"Well, that clinches it." the other four women, eyes green with envy, finally could see Xopil sitting there petting Caly. As they observed Caly, it was hard not to believe there was someone there.

"Shameless house cat..." one of the women said bitterly.

"Perhaps I am, but I'm not the one missing out now am I?" Caly retorted between purrs.

"Thanks for your help Calypso." Xopil stated, stroking her favorite spot.

"Please master, call me Caly... or anything you prefer really..." she snuggled on his lap.

"Too shameless." retorted the same woman.

"Ok Caly, that's enough." Xopil helped Caly off his lap, though she was very reluctant to leave.

The women all gave Xopil expectant looks, well all except Caly who was quite content at the moment.

This could be a problem... thought Xopil, "Ok, introductions first please... I'm Xopil."

Xopil was assaulted with a garbled mess as all four said their names at the same time. "That's not going to work. Bunny?"

"Beda," she replied trying to suppress a giggle. Xopil shook his head.

"Fox?"

"Why thank you...Felicyta," she replied. Xopil shook his head.

"Dog?"

"...How rude, I'm a wolf. Winter." she retorted. Again, Xopil shook his head.

"Leopard?"

"Lexi." she replied mildly.

Descendents of the royal guards... what a sad hand they've been dealt. Xopil thought as he looked them over. "Truth be told... I need your help."

"..." the five women shifted uncomfortably.

Xopil continued, "Your ancesters were royal guards, so I'd ask you to help me sharpen my skills..."

Wordlessly, the five women showed Xopil their hands, or rather their paws. When it didn't dawn on Xopil they said, "We're unable..."

"I need to train my upper body strength and my legs too, you know... running, sprinting, jumping... not everything is about wielding a sword..."

The women shifted uncomfortably again. "Foralis told us the prince had special tastes... and wanted to meet with us specifically... and so we thought about what kind of place this is...and then you..." the four women turned to look at Caly.

"This is news to me, I didn't know I'd be meeting you at all today... but when I heard you were descended from the royal guard I hoped you could help me with training." Xopil turned towards the kitchen.

"We shouldn't have gotten our hopes up, but you also did that so well..." Caly said dreamily.

"Let me ask this, what do you expect or want of me?"

"A warm lap to curl up in."

"Cuddles."

"Petting and belly rubs."

"Scritches."

"All of the above...and more." As soon as this was mentioned, all the women smiled and blushed as they imagined their own personal bliss.

That sounds harmless... Xiara wouldn't kill me for that right...? Xopil carefully weighed his life prior to asking the next question, "And in return can you share what you know of the war, and help me train as best you can?"

The women were wagging their tails and wiggling their bodies in anticipation as they agreed.

In a few days, Xopil had learned everything there was to know about the war... and although not the goal, he also learned each of the women's particular weakness. All that remained was to hone his body with training, and figure out how he was going to stay in the past long enough to change history.